Top Ten Leadership Mistakes

I found this post on Tim Steven's blog. I think it has some great stuff.

Top Ten Leadership Mistakes by Tony Morgan

Tony delivered a content-rich talk to open the Church Solutions Conference. Here are my notes from his talk about the top ten leadership mistakes he has made:

1. Hiring Too Fast. Firing Too Slow. Every minute I delay in firing, I take away opportunity for God to work in that person's life.
2. Putting Projects before the People. Embrace the tension and find the balance between leadership and shepherding.
3. Trying to Fix the Problem Rather than the Process. Ninety percent of the time it isn't a people-problem. It is a process-problem.
4. Delegating Tasks Instead of Responsibility. It is hard to delegate, because many times I (wrongly) think I'm the only one who can do it right.
5. Assuming it is Always Black and White. Following rules is a lot easier than trying to deal with relationships.
6. Not Following my Gut. When we stop listening to God, he stops talking to us (consider the 13-year gap when God stopped talking to Abraham).
7. Dwelling on the Worst-Case Scenario. Worry might not be your issue, but everyone has an issue that can derail them.
8. Waiting Until There's a Problem to Provide Feedback. I have to discipline myself to encourage my team.
9. Staying Busy. It is a lie, but I tend to think if I'm staying busy, I'm adding value to my organization. (Fire ? At this point in Tony's speech, the emergency alarms sounded and the Phoenix Convention Center was evacuated for 20 minutes. Yes, I'm serious.)
10. Spending Too Much Time on the Details Rather than the Dreams.

Other notable quotes from Tony…

* "Are you going to focus on changing diapers or potty-training?"
* "I love executing the policy."
* "My dream for years was, 'I want to be a City Manager.'."
* "The sin I struggle with most in my life is worry."
* "I am encouragement-challenged."
* "My title is meaningless, no one knows what it means, which lets me do whatever I want."

XP Seminar - last one

So the rest of the seminar was pretty good. I learned about the 5 Main Functions of an Executive Pastor - Administrator, Catalyst, Mentor, Minister, and Overseer. They were good. I learned about hiring, meetings, and other fascinating things.

It's interesting how in the Exec Pastor world you have half the people who are from the business world that changed careers and half the people are lifetime pastors. Obviously the lifetime pastors are better and cooler, but we can still learn some things from our business world friends.

I met some cool people. I wanted to connect with some SoCal people and we did. Roger Dermody, the XP from Bel Air Presbyterian, was a good guy. We had breakfast with him and drove to the airport together. We also met Rob Faulk, the XP from Church at Rocky Peak, which is up near Simi Vally. Then I connected with a man named Warren Schuh who was the XP of Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village. He was a speaker and I really liked him a lot.

OK, hopefully this was good bed-time reading to help you sleep. More normal posts to come. But I like being an XP so far. I pray I'm a good one.

XP Seminar Day One

I'm at the XP Seminar in Dallas today. It's pretty good so far. I'm definitely on the younger end of the spectrum for this group, but there are a bunch of people in their 30s here so I'm not super out of place. They all dress a bit more conservatively than I would prefer, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

We have been learning about conflict resolution and pastoral sabbaticals so far. It's been pretty good. The conflict resolution guy is trying to sell his materials so that kind of bugs me a little, but there have been good points.

We are hanging out with Jonathon and Mark Matlock tonight which should be fun.

More riveting XP Seminar info to come....

XP Seminar

So tomorrow I am leaving for the XP Seminar in Dallas, Texas. It should be interesting. This is a conference just for Executive Pastors and since Michael and I just started this job we thought it might be good to learn a little bit more about it. I'm very curious of how I will "fit in" there. We'll see. I have heard that it is surprisingly younger than you might think.

I have never been to Dallas either. I want to get some Texas BBQ.

I'm also preaching this Sunday in both Celebration and Elevation so the prep should be a bit tough while on the road.

Strategic Leadership Team

We will have our first meeting with the Strategic Leadership Team of Calvary Church today. It's a group of 10 of us that will help to provide vision and strategy for achieving that vision. Our agenda for today looks like this:
1. Season of Prayer - just some good old fashioned prayer in an open way.
2. Senior Pastor sharing his vision for the group
3. Then we will have each person share their hopes for the group. What would this group ideally accomplish and how would it function?
4. Operating Principles - this is sort of like a covenant to each other of how we will act and respond. This could include many things, but things like We will be open, honest, and direct with gentleness and respect. Also, things like "silence is agreement." This isn't a group for people to just listen and not participate.
5. Vision, Logo, Branding - we want to take our Connect, Grow, Reach vision to the next level. This will begin that and we will probably schedule a half day brainstorm to work on it.

I'm looking forward to it very much.

Homeland Security and Marko

I started the day at a meeting with Homeland Security which sounded pretty interesting. It's a strange part of the new job that I got a call from Santa Ana Homeland Security and they were meeting with city businesses and non-profits to create partnerships and plan for any future natural disaster or terrorist act. It was actually pretty cool and I'm excited for how we can serve our community in ways that will impact the community now, but will also prepare the church to be a light and a help in any future disaster.

Then my lunch appointment got canceled because he was sick so I just had my meeting at 2:30 with Marko. Mark Oestreicher is the President of Youth Specialties, but that's not why we were meeting. I let him know last month about my new position and he told me how when he was 33 he was the Student Ministries Pastor at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena and was moved into the Executive Pastor position. He was supervising people 20+ years older than him at a large church that was around 100 years old. The similarities are crazy with me being 33 and moving from S.M. Pastor to Executive Pastor of Ministry at a large church around 75 years old. He also used to work at Calvary Church so he knows where I come from.

So in light of all those similarities (and that he seems like an interesting, thoughtful guy) I thought it would be awesome to pick his brain. It was a great time. He had some good thoughts and some great reminders. Here were some of my takeaways apart from just being heard by a man I respect.
1. He asked me first about my non-ministry life which was symbolic to me of what should come first.
2. He said to pursue humility as much as leadership skills or insights.
3. He said to make sure that I had a couple guys who understand my church context well that I can talk about everything I am experiencing and the pressures of my position who I won't have to ever use the "authority card" with.
4. He also had me think through "power" and the proper perspective of it and how to use it properly.
5. Finally, we talked about how to retain who you are in the midst of a "serious" position. I like how he is a bit wild and crazy (maybe more than a bit) while being in positions like Executive Pastor and President. I have felt pressure to dress differently and act differently and he had some good thoughts on it. He said I should still play pranks on my staff and make sure my office and hair aren't too stuffy. I felt a sense of "exhale" for myself in that. Be yourself. Be wise, but be yourself.

We talked about other things, but that was the heart of it. Thanks Marko!!

I Started the Move

Today I started my move up to my new office. I need to take some pictures and post them on here. I'm up in the Worship Center of our church. My new office has a big window that looks down on the auditorium of the Worship Center. It's pretty big and cool. I am getting new furniture for it so I'm working from some old crappy stuff in this big office.

I moved up my computer, phone, and my main office supplies today. I got myself situated where I can work from there while getting the rest of my stuff (mostly books) moved up over the next week. Josh Simpson, the guy that gets my old office, wants me to hurry up since his square footage will double with his move.

I am kind of sappy right now over this whole thing. My eyes were getting watery as I was walking with the cart full of my stuff up to my new office. I really have loved my role and the people I work with. It will be weird to not be down there.

I know that the Student Ministries staff is throwing me a "surprise" lunch tomorrow. I'm really excited for that. It's right up my love language alley.

I Stopped Being a Youth Pastor Today

We announced to our volunteer teams today that I am now the Executive Pastor of Ministry, that Josh Simpson is the new Jr High/Student Ministries Pastor, and that Matt Doan will soon not be the H.S. Pastor anymore. It was a pretty big day with those things. I got emotional when I talked to our staff about me transitioning and how it's the first time in 15 years of adulthood that I have not been in youth ministry. It's such an incredibly strange thing for me. It's that weird blend of sadness and total excitement about the future. I will move my office this week and it will feel really official.

I'm very much looking forward to making a positive impact of change for our church in the weeks, months, and years to come.

New Job

Well, it's official. We announced to our Calvary Church staff today that I am moving into a new position. Starting sort of now and officially in January, I am the Executive Pastor of Ministry at Calvary Church. Michael is the Executive Pastor of Administration. If you're not in ministry, it's like Michael is the CFO and I am the COO of the company under the CEO/Senior Pastor.

This is a huge change for me. I will be overseeing the majority of the ministries of Calvary Church including having a level of oversight of the school and preschool. We have something like 150 employees in the church, school, and preschool. So this is a big responsibility. I feel like this is the kind of position that God has created me for. It's going to be a challenge with preaching still in our Elevation service about 15 times per year, giving some direct oversight to Mens Ministry, and overseeing Children's, Students, Young Adults, Outreach, Assimilation, Counseling, Recovery, Small Groups, Adult Ed, Seniors, and some other ministries.

I also can recognize that I am on the younger side for a position like this. But I know that's part of why I am in this position - to bring a fresh and new approach to ministry at Calvary Church. Please pray for me and for a ton of other changes taking place at Calvary.

One of the biggest aspects of this change for me is that I won't be a "Youth Pastor" anymore. My identity (for better or for worse) has been pretty tied into being a youth pastor. It's odd to be on the other side. I think I will be grieving that for a little while.